CERTIFICATION AND STC’S CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL …

1 Learn by yourselflearn with othersget certifiedtake the exam onlineTHE MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR TECHNICAL COMMUNICATIONJANUARY 2016 CERTIFICATION AND STC S CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL communicator : WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW 6 CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL communicator : THE EXAM AND ITS NINE AREAS OF COMPETENCY 10 PATIENT EXPERIENCE DESIGN 12 BUILDING CONTENT CAPACITIES WITHIN NON-PROFITS 16A TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION USER S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS 20 LEARN WHY THOUSANDS OF COMPANIES ARE MAKING THE SWITCH TO MADCAP SOFTWAREMadCap Flare s single-sourcing capabilities help us streamline our processes to rapidly deliver the information our customers need for any new product releases. Pat Holmes-Clark, Team Leader and Specialist Technical Writer | McKesson Health SolutionsLargest Healthcare Services Company in the United States Switches to MadCap Flare for Agile Delivery of Online Help and DocumentationWe were working with multiple Microsoft Word or FrameMaker files, and it became confusing to try and manage them all.

2 It was extremely time-intensive and inefficient to update these files for each product release. Lesley Brown, Associate Vice President of Documentation and Training Development | McKesson Health SolutionsSTREAMLINE YOUR CONTENT DELIVERY WITH THE MADPAK PROFESSIONAL SUITEE verything You Need to Create, Manage and Publish PROFESSIONAL ContentMadCap Flare: Industry-leading Authoring, Publishing and Content ManagementMadCap Mimic: Create Fully Interactive Demos, Video Tutorials and Software SimulationsMadCap Controbutor: Contribution and Review for Anyone in Your OrganizationMadCap Capture: Screen Capture and Image Editing Made EasyMadCap Analyzer: Powerful Project Analysis and ReportingCopyright 2016, MadCap Software, Inc., and its licensor s. All rights reserved. MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo, and MadPak are trademarks or registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of their respective owners.

3 Using Microsoft Word to Create Your Documentation?Get the Most Out of Your Content with Doc-to-Help. Download a Free Trial at Content Authoring & Re-useIntegrates directly into your Microsoft Word interface. Efficient Collaboration & Content ManagementChoose from built-in technology, Microsoft SharePoint , or Microsoft Team Foundation Server to work with teams. Powerful Multi-channel PublishingWrite once and publish to the Web, desktop Help formats, mobile devices, eBooks, and print. Copyright 2016, MadCap Software, Inc., and its licensors. All rights reserved. MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo, and Doc-to-Help are trademarks or registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of their respective owners. January 2016 Volume 63 | Issue 116125 From the EditorFEATURESYOUR CAREER6 CERTIFICATION and STC s CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL Technical communicator : What You Need to Know By Liz Pohland and Chris Lyons Interested in understanding more about PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION ?

4 Curious why STC started a CERTIFICATION program? This article provides details on what CERTIFICATION is, why organizations certify, and why you should consider becoming a CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL Technical communicator (CPTC).10 CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL Technical communicator : The Exam and Its Nine Areas of Competency By Craig Baehr STC s Chief Examiner describes how the CPTC Foundation CERTIFICATION was developed and what potential certificates should expect when studying for and taking the Foundation Patient Experience Design: Technical Communication s Role in Patient Health Information and Education By Lisa Meloncon Technical communicators can apply their knowledge of user experience in the medical and healthcare fields through a new approach the author defines as patient experience design (PXD). Learn more about PXD and how to apply it to develop better patient education and delivery of Helping Strategy: Building Content Capacities Within Nonprofits By Guiseppe Getto Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) provide necessary services to a variety of communities, but often struggle to build and maintain an effective Web presence.

5 Technical communicators often possess the skills required to help local organizations with their Web presence, but risk providing unsustainable solutions. Based on eight years of research, service-learning, and consulting with nonprofits, this article includes tactics that technical communicators can utilize to help organizations increase their capacities for building and maintaining effective Web A Technical Communication User s Hierarchy of Needs By Ellis Pratt In a content maturity model coined a technical communicator s hierarchy of Using Microsoft Word to Create Your Documentation?Get the Most Out of Your Content with Doc-to-Help. Download a Free Trial at Content Authoring & Re-useIntegrates directly into your Microsoft Word interface. Efficient Collaboration & Content ManagementChoose from built-in technology, Microsoft SharePoint , or Microsoft Team Foundation Server to work with teams. Powerful Multi-channel PublishingWrite once and publish to the Web, desktop Help formats, mobile devices, eBooks, and print.

6 Copyright 2016, MadCap Software, Inc., and its licensors. All rights reserved. MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo, and Doc-to-Help are trademarks or registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of their respective owners. THIS ISSUEV isit for details and to register!Summit Registration Open28252932 DEPARTMENTSFYI31 Mark Your Calendar Organization Events Across the GlobeM Y JOB32 My Technical Communication Journey By Jackie DamrauADVERTISERS C3 AdobeC2 Doc-to-HelpC4 MadCap Software4 STC Education27 STC Membership23 STC Salary Database2 STC Summit24 Anaheim, California: Hometown of the Mouse who Built the Disney Empire By Art HoffmannCOLUMNSETHICS25 That s [Unethical?] Edutainment! By Jessie Lambert ALL ACCESS28 The ADA at 25: Technical Communicators as Advocates By Linda Roberts, Lisa Cook, and Tyler WilliamsonASK A TECH COMM MANAGER29 Ask a Tech Comm Manager By Kit Brown-Hoekstra and Cindy Currieneeds, the author considers technical communication from the user s perspective to help organizations at the project planning stages, linking goals to other project stakeholders including content marketers and product Final Slate: Meet the Candidates Running in the 2016 ElectionSOCIETY PAGES23 David Rose Announced as the Technical Communication Summit 2016 Opening Keynote Speaker IN THIS , the magazine of the Society for Technical Communication, is published to provide practical examples and applications of technical communication that will promote its readers PROFESSIONAL Society for Technical CommunicationEditor Elizabeth E.

7 (Liz) PohlandAssistant Editor James CameronCONTRIBUTING EDITORSS cott Abel, Meet the Change AgentsAndrea Ames, The Strategic IA Thomas Barker, The Academic ConversationNicky Bleiel, The Essentials Kit Brown-Hoekstra and Cindy Currie, Ask a Tech Comm ManagerJeanette Evans and Charles Dull, Emerging TechnologiesRay Gallon, Standard DeviationLinda Roberts and Lisa Cook, All AccessDerek Ross, EthicsKirk , Student PerspectivesKirk , Working Locally, Communicating GloballyBrian Still, Trends in UsabilityEDITORIAL ADVISORY PANELBeth Agnew, Nicky Bleiel, Barrie Byron, Liz Herman (Chair), Alan HouserSTC BOARD OF DIRECTORSO fficersBernard Aschwanden, PresidentAdriane Hunt, Vice PresidentKit Brown-Hoekstra, Immediate Past PresidentJane Wilson, TreasurerAlyssa Fox, SecretaryDirectors Craig Baehr, Charles Fisher, Ray Gallon, Cindy PaoSOCIETY FOR TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION9401 Lee Highway, Suite 300 Fairfax, VA 22031-1803+1(703) 522-4114 | +1(703) 522-2075 fax Send questions and correspondence to the editor at the above address.

8 General information about STC: or Changes: Editorial: Permissions: (ISSN 0164-6206) is published 10 times a year (monthly, except for August and December) by the Society for Technical Communication, 9401 Lee Highway, Suite 300, Fairfax, VA 22031-1803, a nonprofit educational organization, as a service to its membership. Membership in STC includes a subscription to Intercom. Periodicals postage paid at Fairfax, VA, and additional offices. Postmaster Send address changes to Intercom, Attn: Membership, c/o Society for Technical Communication, 9401 Lee Highway, Suite 300, Fairfax, VA 2016 by the Society for Technical Communication. All rights reserved. Printed in the articles in Intercom are copyrighted by the authors unless otherwise indicated. Anyone interested in reprints, reproduc-tions, or reuse must contact the authors for permission. To advertise in Intercom, contact Stacey O Donnell at Society for Technical Communication, 9401 Lee Highway, Suite 300, Fairfax, VA 22031.

9 Ph: +1(703) 522-4114; Fax: +1(703) Note from the EditorTHE JANUARY ISSUE of Intercom focuses on PROFESSIONAL development. Have you been wondering about profes-sional CERTIFICATION , how to move into the medical and healthcare field, how to work with nonprofits, or how to model a better user needs framework? If so, then this issue has what you need to for more information on CERTIFICATION ? An article by STC CEO Chris Lyons and myself explains what CERTIFICATION is, why STC built the CERTIFICATION program, and what it can do for you and your employer. This issue also includes an article by CERTIFICATION Chief Examiner Craig Baehr on the exam and its nine area of competency. If you ve been wondering what the nine competency areas are or how to study and take the exam, this article provides an essential in the healthcare arena? Lisa Meloncon has provided an article that explains the overlap between technical communication and what she calls patient experience design (PXD).

10 Arguing that PXD provides a defined path for technical communicators to be involved in the development of patient education materials, she explains how skills technical communica-tors already have easily transfer to communications within the medical and healthcare with a nonprofit? Through eight years of experience with nonprofits, Guiseppe Getto has written an article that explains how technical communicators can help nonprofts build and sustain better online presences and Web content. He provides tactics that technical communi-cators can use to help organizations with limited resources increase their capacities for building and maintaining effective Web for a new user model? In his article, Ellis Pratt has coined a new content maturity model a technical communicator s hierarchy of needs. In the model, he focuses from the user s perspective to help organizations understand where users interact with tech comm content and to link goals across project stakeholders at the start of a project in order to get the necessar y issue also includes a guide to the upcoming 2016 election; information about the Summit Keynote Speaker David Rose and the fun to be had in Anaheim, California; and three columns: one on ethics in edutainment, one on technical communicators as accessibility advocates, and a new advice column from tech comm managers Kit Brown-Hoekstra and Cindy hope you enjoy the first issue of Intercom for 2016.